Episode 10
is the tenth episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It originally aired on March 10th, 2011 in Japan and is produced by SHAFT. Summary This episode centers around Homura. Most of the mystery behind her origin and behavior in previous episodes is explained. Timeline 1 In the original timeline for Homura, she was a normal human girl suffering from a heart disease. She is shown just released from the hospital and transferred to the Mitakihara Middle School, similar to the first episode. She differs in appearance to the Homura we know, though - she wears glasses and wears her long hair tied in two braids. Her personality also feels different - she is a lot shyer and clumsy. Madoka, Sayaka, and other new classmates try to befriend Homura, which makes her feel uneasy. During a talk with Madoka, she admits finding herself worthless, not unlike Madoka does in the timeline of other episodes. Homura's problems during math and sports classes (probably related to being out of school for a long time) contribute to her depression, which makes her get suicidal thoughts on the way from school. Presumably because of these thoughts, she wanders into the barrier of witch Izabel. She is quickly saved by Puella Magi Madoka and Mami, with Madoka asking her to keep their jobs a secret from schoolmates. Later, during a visit at Mami's apartment, Madoka reveals that she's been contracted only for a very short time. Homura feels fascinated about her magical friends, similar to how Madoka acts in initial episodes. Sometime later, Madoka and Mami fight Walpurgis Night together, with Homura following them as a human. Mami is defeated quickly, then Madoka apparently manages to defeat the witch, but at the expense of her own life. Homura cries over Madoka's dead body, and accepts Kyubey's proposal to become a Puella Magi, she wishes to be "I want to redo my meeting with Kaname-san. Instead of being protected by her, I want to protect her!" The contract is formed, with Kyubey commenting that the wish has "surpassed entropy". Timeline 2 Homura wakes up in a hospital, on the date she was released in the previous iteration, having a Soul Gem in her hand. After transferring to school, she instantly tells Madoka about becoming a Puella Magi, hoping for good cooperation. Madoka and Mami train Homura the Puella Magi, who turns out to be extremely clumsy, despite having the very powerful ability to stop time. Meanwhile, Homura reads online guides about making explosives, contributing to improving her skills. While still clumsy, she plays the most important role when the trio - now good friends - fights with the witch Patricia. The next scene shown is after the Walpurgis Night - after defeating the witch, Madoka's Soul Gem turns into a Grief Seed and she becomes a witch. Timeline 3 The time goes back again, and Homura wakes up at the exact same place and time as previously. Scared and angered by the discovery of the true nature of the contract with Kyubey, she decides to tell the other girls immediately. Sayaka, who in this timeline became a Puella Magi, too, doesn't believe her and accuses her of collaborating with Kyoko, whom apparently only Homura has met yet. Sayaka also tells that she feels afraid of Homura's explosives, which makes Homura go to a meeting of some armed formation (the building is labeled "Shaft Industries" (射太興業 Shafuto Kōgyō)) and steal some firearms, all on frozen time. Since Sayaka turns into a witch, presumably for similar reasons as in Episode 8, Homura uses the firearms during the fight with her to protect Madoka, and also defeats her, even though Madoka and Kyoko try to make Sayaka human again in a fashion similar to Episode 9. Upon seeing the true nature of Puella Magi herself, Mami breaks down and attempts to kill all the magical girls, including herself, in order to prevent their eventual transformation into witches. She kills Kyoko first by shooting her Soul Gem and attempts to kill Homura by binding her, but before she can do so, Madoka uses her beam arrows to kill her. The remaining two fight on the Walpurgis Night together, and defeat the witch, having their Soul Gems fatally tainted, though. Madoka heals Homura with a Grief Seed she was hiding and asks Homura to prevent her from becoming a Puella Magi next time she'll go back in time. Homura agrees and grants Madoka one more wish of hers - killing her to prevent her from becoming a witch. Timeline 4 Upon waking up in the familiar hospital, Homura changes her presence by magically healing her eyes, wearing the hair down and taming her emotions - just how she looked in all the previous episodes. At night she warns Madoka not to accept miracles, confusing her. Then she goes hunting all the witches. On Walpurgis Night, the dream sequence from Episode 1 is shown again. Homura watches Kyubey persuading Madoka and screams to prevent her from forming the contract, but Madoka doesn't seem to hear it. Off-camera, Madoka forms the contract and defeats the witch with just one shot, but becomes a witch (Kriemhild Gretchen) herself shortly after. Kyubey comments that she may destroy the whole Earth in near future. He has collected an enormous amount of energy from her already, though, so he doesn't care about it anymore. Homura refuses to fight Madoka the witch, saying that "This is not my battlefield," which makes Kyubey realize that she's from a different timeline. Characters Magical Girls Madoka Kaname Mami Tomoe Sayaka Miki Kyoko Sakura Civilians Witches Walpurgisnacht Izabel Patricia Other Kyubey Locations Mitakihara Town Trivia * Kuroe Mura, the artist for the Puella Magi Oriko Magica manga, also created this episode's end card. Gallery Episode 10 End Card.jpg|Ending Card. Category:Anime Category:TV series Category:Episodes